Oxford Instruments Measures Up for Growth with Infor

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Suite of Infor Applications to Deliver Increased Productivity and Standardization for High Tech Leader

NEW YORK - Apr 24, 2012

Infor, a leading provider of business application software serving more than 70,000 customers, today announced that Oxford Instruments plc, a leading provider of high technology tools and systems for research and industry, has chosen to implement a suite of applications from Infor to support its global operations. At the core of the suite is Infor10 ERP Business (SyteLine), a leading ERP solution specialized for the high tech industry, which is integrated through Infor10 ION technology with Infor10 PLM Discrete (PLM8) to help track, manage, monitor, and analyze products throughout the product lifecycle. These applications will help Oxford Instruments continue to grow by delivering standardized business processes and improving productivity across its operations in China, Germany, Japan, the United States, and the United Kingdom.

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Over the next three years, Oxford Instruments will deploy ERP Business across its world-wide businesses.

ERP Business replaces a portfolio of legacy systems at Oxford Instruments, and is expected to help the company improve productivity and deliver on its strategy to achieve 14 percent compound annual revenue growth by 2014.

ERP Business will help drive these benefits by supporting a set of core processes throughout Oxford Instruments including customer facing processes such as order taking.

By offering improved connectivity and integration with existing applications via ION, ERP Business enables 'straight-through processing' where the various components of customer requirements are automatically sent to the relevant companies for fulfillment, without needing additional data entry.

ERP Business is designed to eliminate disparate systems, enable consistent, company-wide training to be delivered via the internet, and accelerate the integration of any further acquisitions. It will also help make it easier to transfer valuable, skilled employees between the Oxford Instruments business groups.

Following a 14 month tender process, ERP Business was chosen for its ability to deliver the necessary connectivity across Oxford Instruments, as well as its industry-specific functionality and scalability.

Oxford Instruments Quote"We have not just bought a product, we have invested in a partner and have chosen Infor because the company's expertise enables them to cover the majority of our requirements out-of-the-box," said Gary Wearing, Director of Oxford Instruments NanoScience division. "We have some demanding milestones for the time and cost of implementation, and we will be measuring productivity improvements to make sure that the application delivers. But we are confident that both the company and the technology we have chosen will help us to achieve our growth strategy."

Infor Quote"We have seen in the recent IDC Manufacturing Insights research that complexity continues to hamper the pursuit of profitable growth for manufacturers," said Andrew Kinder, director, product marketing, Infor.

"Infor10 ERP Business provides the tools that help high tech manufacturers like Oxford Instruments conquer complexity and achieve levels of business agility that allow them to continually innovate products and processes to compete, as market conditions change."

About Oxford InstrumentsOxford Instruments designs, supplies and supports high-technology tools and systems with a focus on research and industrial applications. It provides solutions needed to advance fundamental physics research and its transfer into commercial nanotechnology applications. Innovation has been the driving force behind Oxford Instruments' growth and success for over 50 years, and its strategy is to effect the successful commercialisation of these ideas by bringing them to market in a timely and customer-focused fashion.

The first technology business to be spun out from Oxford University over fifty years ago, Oxford Instruments is now a global company with over 2000 staff worldwide and is listed on the FTSE250 index of the London Stock Exchange (OXIG). Its objective is to be the leading provider of new generation tools and systems for the research and industrial sectors.

This involves the combination of core technologies in areas such as low temperature, high magnetic field and ultra high vacuum environments, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, X-ray, electron and optical based metrology, and advanced growth, deposition and etching.Oxford Instruments aims to pursue responsible development and deeper understanding of our world through science and technology. Its products, expertise, and ideas address global issues such as energy, environment, security and health.

About InforInfor is the world's third-largest supplier of enterprise applications and services, helping more than 70,000 large and mid-size companies improve operations and drive growth across numerous industry sectors. To learn more about Infor, please visit www.infor.com.